


Panning for Gems

by HM (HyperMint)



Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 12:25:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9548948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HyperMint/pseuds/HM
Summary: Vin decides to take a slight side trip before their flight home.One-shot





	

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything, especially from the television show "Magnificent Seven."
> 
> Notes: I had the urge to do a short story and I remembered a trip we took to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee about four or so years ago. As you may remember, that area has recently been ravaged by fire. There was a gem panning place and it was very fun and I would pan for a lot of gems and other such material if I could. Alas, I have both limited money and limited space in my room, but I highly encourage you to take the chance if you can. I think that everyone should at least try it once in their life, but maybe twice if you live around the mountains.
> 
> (Happy early V-Day!)

* * *

"What, pray tell, are you doing?"  
  
Vin paused and blinked on his way past Ezra with a bucket of sand. "What d'you mean?"  
  
"I'm fairly certain that that collection of geology in your possession did not come from here," Ezra sent a dubious look at the forest around them. And where would one even go about collecting sand in the mountains of Tennessee?   
  
"I ain't sure it did, either," Vin agreed. "But the lady said they mostly come from Africa or South America. Maybe a number from both."  
  
"Sand?" he raised a skeptical brow.  
  
"Nah, the gems and minerals buried in this here bucket," he grinned down at it. "C'mon, Ez. There's a panning station not far from here."  
  
Ezra mentally shrugged and followed his love to the set up he'd noticed earlier.  
  
There, at least four other groups were taking their chances at one of three troughs of running water. At intervals all along the nearest trough where Vin settled, there were small panning devices with handles and attached to the trough sides via strong string or plastic strips. Ezra wasn't quite sure of this venture, but Vin was all but rubbing his hands together with glee so Ezra couldn't refuse this little side entertainment.  
  
Taking a small shovel, Vin scooped up some sand and dumped it in the pan immersed into the clear rushing water. Almost immediately, the sand was beginning to wash away and left a group of small pebbles behind.   
  
"That lady told me to keep whatever I find in this bag," Vin carefully picked them up and put them in a clear plastic bag he must have gotten with the bucket.  
  
"Ah," Ezra nodded, green eyes watching as Vin dumped another shovelful of sand in the pan.

That and the next handful of tries yielded no conclusive results, but then a new dump of sand was put in the water and Ezra was interested to see something actually get left behind in the pan.  
  
"A very interesting find, Vin," he eyed it thoughtfully as the Texan huffed a laugh and plucked it up from the water logged pan.  
  
"Know what this is?" he held it out. "A desert rose. Not 'xactly a flower, but it sure looks like one."  
  
Ezra gingerly took it and studied the ball composed seemingly of white stripes. It was some sort of mineral, but it definitely looked like some sort of flower all shaped into a ball. The edges were rough, though, but it wasn't a hurting kind of rough. More like a rough only found in nature.  
  
"Hm," he nodded, taking the bag and carefully placing it in with the small fragments of rock.   
  
A few more shovels were dumped in and Vin swished the pan around to help wash the sand away.

This time was more fruitful.  
  
"Look at this," Vin's eyes sparkled in excitement as the sand disappeared.  
  
Ezra nodded, smiling as he followed the pointing finger as it poked at a bigger chunk of a white rock. Or, it  _look_  white, at first glance.  
  
Vin picked it up and turned it in his fingers. "Think this is a rose quartz," he decided. "If you really look at it, looks kinda pink."  
  
Ezra took it from him and gave it a good stare. There was most definitely a pinkish tone to the ... crystal? ..., but it was subtle instead of in your face. It looked to him as if the pink tint was more visible on one side than the other. And he could see the light coming through the crystal when he held it up.  
  
"Quite a find," he murmured, carefully plunking it in the bag, too.  
  
"And that ain't the only one, neither. Look at this," Vin held out a smaller find and Ezra looked it over in his fingers.  
  
This one was by far smaller, only a couple of millimeters in length, and a dark green - almost forest green - with a very thin stripe of what looked like some pink material running completely through it.  
  
Ezra put that in the bag, too, as his green eyes looked into the panning device to see a few other interesting looking pieces of debris.  
  
There was a small red orange bit with other materials folded into it. There was also a deep purple-blue bit of something, an all white bit, a small sliver of something that suspiciously reminded him of aquamarine and some other sort of shiny white rock.  
  
A new shovelful revealed small bits, too; black, small bits of a kind of milky blue - what Vin suspected as angelite -, a brown thing, more red orange, a different fragment of black that light could be seen through and a piece of rather striking green that he was hesitant to call emerald.   
  
And the next few panfuls yielded discoveries, too:  
  
The first good chunk of what looked like black until Ezra held it to the light and discovered the tell tale deep purple color of amethyst.   
  
A light reddish brown square.  
  
A suspicious round something that looked like an opal of the either clear or very light yellow variety.  
  
A pink bit that Ezra didn't  _think_ was rose quartz; something that looked like - but wasn't - a fragment of clear glass; a rather large chunk of blue, a shiny grey rock and an almost perfect miniature crystal.  
  
Larger chunks included citrine, more amethyst, a couple hunks of light green-blue that Ezra had to fight his magpie tendencies against, what looked like different forms of topaz, what seemed to be another rose quartz, possibly a garnet and definitely sapphire.  
  
Ezra glanced at the bucket some discoveries later and did a double take at how much they'd managed to demolish in what seemed like such a short amount of time. "Good Lord," he blinked. "I had no idea how quickly it would go."  
  
"Yeah," Vin sent a mornful look at the almost half filled bucket and gave a sigh. "Too bad we cain't do another one."  
  
Ezra could definitely see how places like this made a profit - the excitement of discovery driving sales -, but he could also admit to enjoying the journey to the bottom of the container at the same time. It was worth it to see Vin swish the sand away and exclaim in excitement at whatever was left at the bottom of the pan.   
  
"Hey, Ezra," Vin smiled slightly. "You want ta try?"  
  
He dithered at the offer for a few token moments before heaving a sigh and holding a hand out for the shovel. He dumped sand into the pan and did his own swishing of the device, blinking at what he found.  
  
"Well, damn!" Vin laughed. "How about that?"  
  
Aside from a bit of coal-like tourmaline, there were up to three shells: one flat, black and shiny; one vaguely familiar kind of shell that looked cut in half and two or three skinny white shells - obviously fossils - that had a tight spiral going vertically.   
  
"And with my luck," a smile pulled at his lips in response to his lover's amusement, "these will be the only shells in the entire bucket."  
  
And his luck held true as they went shovelful by shovelful to the bucket's bottom - churning out at least one shark tooth, what would turn out to be a water buffalo tooth, more topaz, a few suspected moonstones, aquamarine, other types of unidentifiable gems and minerals and at least one sapphire and emerald - and found not flake nor shine of another shell.  
  
Not that Ezra minded, of course.

He was more than happy to give the rest of the discoveries to Vin, his excitement obvious at every discovery revealed by the running water. If Ezra could have the 'boring' discoveries, he would happily take it. Though, the fact that there were fossils and shells also involved in the endeavor was interesting in and of itself.   
  
Perhaps next time they found themselves panning for gems, Ezra could procure himself a small bag and pan right alongside Vin to see if he could find any other shells.  
  
On the other hand, watching Vin make his way through his chosen container was something he wasn't sure he would give up.   
  
As much as Vin would have liked panning for more, their time was growing short and they both knew it. Vin took the now empty bucket and his finds to the place he'd gotten the bucket while Ezra made for the car and came back some minutes later with a small identification map and a disappointing report of no special gemstones that the identifier could see.   
  
"Perhaps next time, then," Ezra started the rental as Vin perused his now dry bagful.   
  
"Yeah. Next time."  
  
They were on the plane home when Vin got Ezra's attention and held out something that was attached to a length of black string.   
  
"Here," he had the other end hidden in his fist. "Thought you might like it."  
  
"Oh?" Ezra held his palm under Vin's fist and watched as a 'caged' stone dropped into it. Something warm trickled through him when he recognized the green-blue stone that triggered his magpie tendencies earlier, the biggest chunk they found wrapped in a ball of white wire - possibly a silver metal - and obviously made as a pendant to be worn. "I had thought I hid that reaction," he admitted, almost shyly putting it on under Vin's approving gaze.  
  
"Maybe to anyone else," Vin softly told him. "But not to me."  
  
And there wasn't a doubt in Ezra's mind that it was true, what with the amount of watching him that Vin did on a regular basis.  
  
"Thank you," Ezra said sincerely, their eyes of emerald and sapphire locked in a simple gaze. He had to tear his eyes away in order to slightly recline the seat and settle in for the flight.  
  
"Hey, Ez?" he heard Vin question a moment later, closing his eyes.  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"Did you want your own bucket?"  
  
"No," he shook his head decisively. "I'm content with what I've found."  
  
He felt Vin's gaze rake over him to check for insincerity before evidently being satisfied at his truthfulness and returning to once more look over his souvenir bag of treasure.  
  
Ezra slit open an eye to watch him for a few moments and closed it again with a smile.  
  
So what if all he found this day were shells? Vin's gift was settled against his heart, calming his inner magpie, and that was all he had really wanted.  
  
And besides.  
  
He had already found the priceless, most beautiful gemstone of all in the seat right next to him.   
  
And that was most definitely a lucky, once-in-a-lifetime discovery.

* **

END


End file.
